Category: landscape

Another beautiful Spring day – 20 March 2020

Posted on by Zogman

Apparently today was the Spring Equinox, something about the sun crossing the equator.

I don’t know if the sun was actually crossing the equator today, but we definitely saw if for a lot of the afternoon. We’d decided to go for a walk again today. A much longer walk than yesterday, about 5 miles according to my Fitbit. We were walking along the Forth & Clyde Canal from Auchinstarry Quarry to Twechar and back. Before we left Auchinstarry I grabbed a shot of two roped up rock climbers having a wee discussion of the best way to climb the rock. One in the bag.We started out on our walk with the big Bergy coats on, Scarves, Wooly Hats and Scamp even had her gloves on. I was a rock cake and kept my gloves and my hands in my jacket pockets. Halfway along the canal, the jackets were zipped down, then the scarves, gloves and wooly bunnets were pocketed away and we began to feel the heat of the sun. We some folk who had gone further and were wearing shorts, but that’s just taking things too far. It might be that Spring is just around the corner, but that was a cold wind blowing from the east. One step at a time.

When we turned at Twechar and headed face forward into that eastern breeze, the bunnets were back on and the jackets were zipped up again. Got today’s PoD just outside Twechar as an eight shot panorama created in Lightroom, then cleaned up in ON1 2019. Quite pleased with it, it showed what the light was like today. We passed a few hardy folk out walking and cycling, and even a few jogging. All of them keeping the approved 2m distance from us, just to be sure.

On the way back to the car we discussed food options for the next few days and decided another visit to the butchers was in order. With that in mind we drove to Muirhead and then split up. Scamp to check out the Co-op and me to get some meat and fish it there was any fish. There was a queue outside the butchers, and I groaned. It was Friday and it’s usually busy on Fridays, but actually this was a H&S queue, all to do with Covid 19. People were asked to wait outside and were called into the shop to reduce the risk of cross contamination. Once in I had to sanitise my hands with an alcohol gel. Perfectly sensible really in these strange days. I was looking for some more Thai Chicken Stir-Fry, but there were no chickens from any geographical location in a stir-fry sauce. Got some beef stir-fry instead. Also got some fish for Scamp and best of all, two bags of pasta. No pasta in Tesco, nor as it turned out in the Co-op, but there was some in the butchers! Strange days indeed. When we got back home, the girl next door, Angela’s daughter Lucy, came out to say that she was giving her mum a lift to her work in Asda in the mornings and if we needed anything, just to give her a list. I thought that was very kind of her and told her so. I also said that although we were fine at the moment, I’d keep her offer in mind.

With that, our exercise for the day was done. Lunch was (Just) soup and a late supper was a pizza.

The big Covid 19 announcement of the day, apart from having to queue outside the butchers and then use hand sanitiser, was that all clubs, pubs and restaurants would be closed from tonight until the foreseeable future. That also made sense to me and was entirely predictable.

Tomorrow we may go for a walk again in a different place and a different direction, no doubt. Where is not yet decided, but we will be taking a flask and ’pieces’.

Smiddy for lunch – 14 March 2020

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We just wanted to get out today and the Smiddy at Blair Drummond fitted the bill

Drove out there through occasional drizzle, but with the chance of some brightness too. I realised we’d made the right choice when I saw the specials menu. Baked potato with Veg Chilli, Jalapeños and Sour Cream. Haven’t had that in ages. They also had Erdinger no-alcohol beer on the drinks menu, so I had that too. For Scamp it was Mac ’n’ Cheese with the Smiddy hand cut Chips (Skin on), washed down with a glass of red. If I’m going to be picky, and I do have my foodie credentials to uphold, the potato felt as if it had been under the heat lights for a while and the chilli tasted like a re-heat, rather than fresh. Like I say, being picky. Scamp bought some fresh veg from the deli. She always prefers fresh veg, not packed in cling film. Things you can lift and check the condition. Ok, you maybe pay more that at Tesco, but you get to choose what you’re buying.

While she was making her selection, I took the opportunity to grab some photos of the Gargunnock Hills which were managing to find some sunshine from somewhere. The sky was broken and there was light up there, but not a lot. Today’s PoD shows the resulting panoramic image, built from five frames. It looks like I saw it.

Then, as the rain was starting, we headed back home. As we were driving past Stirling, the road was very wet but the sun was shining brightly. A typical Scottish day. It seemed as if we’d just missed a heavy rain shower, although we were about five miles north and we had only had spits and spots of the wet stuff.

I thought there was going to be enough light to go for a walk in St Mo’s when we got home, but although it didn’t actually rain, it was just too dull. You know my saying by now. “It’s all about the light”. I took one record shot of a pine tree “Pineapple” and that was out of focus, so glad I got the pano from the Smiddy.

While I was out, Scamp started in the back garden. Mainly cleaning up and freshening the soil round the plants, but also a bit of pruning. The rose between us and our next door neighbour was getting bit unruly and spreading into the poor woman’s garden. A few clips with the secateurs soon brought it into line with where it should be. Some of the plants are beginning to show new growth, so I expect she’ll be wanting to get started on the rest of the garden soon, all being well. I’ll try not to get roped in too much.

Watched half of a recorded program about figure drawing. Not something I’d like to have a go at. Portraiture maybe, with a teacher who could actually demonstrate the techniques, not like the one I went to at Cumbersheugh College a year or so ago. However, the hour of the program I watched was interesting enough to go back to another time and see the second half.

Overall not a bad day. In fact it was a much better day than some poor people on a Jet 2 holiday were having when their plane did a ‘U turn’ on the way to Tenerife and flew back to the UK, because the company decided that was the safest option. What a disappointment that would be!

No Sunday Social tomorrow. AdS have cancelled all socials and all classes for at least a fortnight and more likely a month due to Covid 19. It’s all becoming a bit claustrophobic now. We may go for a walk somewhere tomorrow if it’s dry.

Leaping Day – 29 February 2020

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It’s that day that only exists every four years.

To celebrate Leap Day, we went in to Stirling, in fact we went over the Tak-Ma-Doon road to Stirling. For the most part if was a jolly little run in the country, however halfway to Stirling, just as we were crossing the main road we came upon a bit of flooding. It wasn’t a problem for the Red Juke with its high clearance, but I was a bit worried incase there were any nasty little potholes lurking under that seemingly innocent water surface, but there weren’t, at least we didn’t sink into any, but it did make me think about all these poor folk down south who have been flooded out of their houses.

The next part of the journey was uphill again with no place for a lurking flood then it was down-dale and all the water would be rushing ahead of us with no time to block our path. After the downhill stretch we were on to the straight and level road where I could stop and get a few photos, one of which made PoD. It’s a wee farm under a glowering sky that promised snow. Luckily the snow had the good sense to wait for an hour or two before coming pelting down.

Stirling was busy, so busy that we couldn’t get in to Nero, so we went to a wee independent coffee shop where the coffee was poor, but the food was really good. Much better than either Costa or Nero’s usual tasteless stuff. Must go back again the next time we’re in Stirling. There being nothing else we wanted other than a wee run in the country and a bite to eat, we came back home via Waitrose where Scamp chose a basket rather than a trolley and that prompted us to buy what we needed, rather than the whole shop.  We had sleet all the way home and later in the evening the snow did make a brief appearance, but it didn’t last and it didn’t lie.  It’s getting a bit windy now as Storm Jorge slides across the country.  Allegedly we won’t get the worst of it.  There is heavy snow forecast for north of us and strong winds south of us, but as I’m writing this the bins are taking a battering from the wind.

Dinner tonight was a frugal but really tasty omelette. Peppers, onions, mushrooms and cooked ham sorted mine. Scamp’s was the same minus the cooked ham. We had considered getting a carry-out, but settled for a cooked meal because we couldn’t be bothered going out for Chinese or Indian and didn’t want to wait until 10pm to have a tepid meal delivered. A glass of wine washed the omelettes down nicely, and you can’t drink wine with a Chinese or an Indian take-away, at least we can’t.

The sketching topic was “Wedding”. Presumably it was to celebrate the fact that on Leap Day, the lady can ask the gentleman to marry them. SoD was Scamp’s suggestion. It was the bridesmaid’s basket that Hazy carried at Jackie’s wedding a few years ago … quite a few years ago! My mum crocheted the basket and formed it using sugar to stiffen it. She also dressed it with with artificial flowers. The flowers have faded a bit, but the memories are still there. That’s the last one done for this year. I may continue sketching, but if my past record is repeated, the work will peter out gradually, there being no real incentive to get things done and on time. I’ll miss it, but I can hold out until May when it returns again.

No plans for tomorrow except for dancing hopefully in the late afternoon. Real dancing. Salsa!

Storage, Lunch, Compost and Bridges – 28 February 2020

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In that order. Oh yes, and Snow.

So what of the day then? Well, I fancied a trip to somewhere with technology. Somewhere with computers and hard drives and vacant sales people with limited knowledge of those things. Currys, that would fit the bill. My ever expanding photo collection would soon be in need of some extra storage space. Almost fifteen years of photos were almost completely filling the 2TB hard drive they are presently stored in. More accommodation is required and if you know what you want, how much you need and how much you’re prepared to spend, Curry’s is probably the best place to go, just don’t expect any help from the sales folk. They are there to sell, not advise. If you do ask them for advice on what desktop external hard drive to buy, you might come home with a washing machine instead, because logically, the person you spoke to hasn’t been on the computer external storage course yet, but they have successfully completed the one on washing machines. I Knew, I Wanted, I Bought … a Seagate 4TB USB3 Drive and it looks very swish.

With the purchase safely in the boot of the Juke, we went for lunch. Two Fish ’n’ Chips, one latte and one Americano. We think the indeterminate fish was River Cobbler whatever that is. It certainly wasn’t cod or haddock, but it tasted ‘fishy’ and it was hot, so were the chips and the coffee and that was all we were bothered about. Outside, the snow was pelting down. It had started as sleet, but had now graduated to real snow. Next stop Compost.

Scamp has decided that even though the weather thinks it’s still winter, in a couple of days it will be March and that’s effectively Spring, so it’s time to plant some seeds and for that you need lots of little plastic pockets, forty of them per propagator and lots of compost to fill those pockets. She already has the seeds, they’ve become a traditional Christmas present for Scamp. I’ve a packets too I think, somewhere, so I might be able to borrow one or two of those little pockets for my Teasels. I’d imagine the little seeds will be sown soon and kept inside until the temperature realises that it’s soon to be spring.

Today’s topic for sketching was ‘Bridge’. I searched my Flickr photo stream this morning for possible subjects and arrived at a shortlist of six. After browsing them, I settled on one of Mauldslie Bridge and Gatehouse. It took about an hour to sketch and paint and ultimately reject. Redrew it and repainted it and it became SoD.

PoD was taken earlier in the day and was of a rather snowy and unimpressive Campsie Fells covered in snow. It’s a poor showing, I know, but some people have decided that the photos must go on, so I do what I can with the cards I’d dealt. Not my best work, but done and on time.

Speaking of time, it’s running on and I want to get this posted today.

Tomorrow we may go shopping in Stirling.

Coffee and some adult conversation – 24 February 2020

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Coffee at midday with the rest of the Auld Guys.

Topics under discussion were how to fix NLC, health centres and Boris.

  • It was generally agreed that NLC are now BER (Beyond Economic Repair) which is a nice way of saying FUBAR.
  • Health centres seem to be screwing up a lot of people. Within about a 10 mile radius the three centres under discussion were all operating different systems and all of them totally inefficient. Possibly they too are BER.
  • The book I’m reading at present is Real Tigers by Mick Herron. One nasty piece of work in the book is Peter Judd who is Home Secretary — described as ‘a loose cannon with a floppy fringe and a bicycle’ has his eye on Number 10. Now Peter Judd’s initials are PJ. If you say them quickly they’d sound like BJ, then all sorts of similarities are revealed. A nice piece of satire or simply a coincidence? You choose.

With the world once again set to rights, we went our separate ways and vowed that we’d organise our next meeting in a pub in Glasgow. We’ve been saying it for years and it hasn’t transpired yet. Perhaps 2020 will be that year.

When I got home, Gems were in full voice, so I swiftly had a roll ’n’ bacon and went out into the grim sleet to see if there were any pictures out there worth taking. There were as it happened. I’d stopped on one of my favourite places for a view of the Campsie covered in snow when the clouds came down and obscured them. Then I heard the sound of geese and a large skein appeared from behind some trees. There seemed to be hundreds of birds in the group that split up and rejoined as I grabbed my camera and shot off a few frames through the smirr that had started to fog up the lens. A quick wipe with my shirt tail cured that and I go some more before they headed off north. What do they know that I don’t. The resulting image is at the top of the page.

Dancing tonight was a reprise of waltz which I will tentatively say we can now complete without arguing 75% of the time. After that we did some foxtrot and made a bit of hash of it, but nothing that can’t be improved with some more practise. New to us tonight was quickstep. Now we’ve done quickstep with Michael, but this was quickstep with names for all the steps and the figures and it seemed to flow much better than when we were dancing it in Blackfriars. I’m not saying we have it off pat yet, it’s still a work in progress, but we’re about half way there. Feeling much better about this dancing lark.

I’m not publishing my attempt at a Mandala which is today’s challenge. I wasted an hour of my life drawing it and I don’t intend to foist it on anyone else. If you want to see it go to FB or Flickr.

Tomorrow, no plans, but I think we’ll be practising the quickstep figures.

More bloody problems – 28 January 2020

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Not satisfied with yesterday’s four bottles, the vampires want more blood.

Phone call at just after 9am from the doctor’s surgery to say that the blood I gave yesterday had arrived at the lab without any labels, so could I please donate more. I tried to explain that I have a limited amount of the red stuff in my veins and it would take me a while to replenish my reserves sufficiently for another donation. We agreed a date and time and the receptionist apologised for the problem. I’m sure she’s one of the vampires, because I heard her licking her lips as she put the phone down.

When I looked out the window the ground was white. No snow was falling and the sky was clear, but all around was crisp and even, just not deep. Two out of three will do me for a photo or two. But that would be later. It wasn’t even half past nine and I had a book to finish. February’s Son. Brilliant book.

After my morning coffee and after solving an incredibly difficult Difficult level Sudoku, I went out and cleared the snow from the car and drove Scamp down to Broadwood Farm for her lunch date with Mags. Got some bread and milk on the way home and then went out for a walk in St Mo’s with three cameras. Old EPL 5 with an ultra wide lens. New GX 80 with a wide zoom and middle aged E-M1 with a macro. Surely I had everything covered? Indeed I had. Lots of photos taken and all cameras used. Haven’t picked a PoD yet as this is an early version of the Blog. Happy with what each of them produced though.

Back home again and after lunch which was a piece ’n’ roast beef with garlic and coriander, just to dissuade any more hungry vampires pretending to be from the doc’s surgery. I made some soup. What Scamp calls ‘just soup’. In other words, nothing fancy, just soup. When Scamp arrived after walking back from lunch we finally put the Christmas decorations up in the loft and by that time it was late afternoon and it was getting dark. The clouds had sneaked in when we weren’t looking and taken away all that good sunlight from this morning, but not to worry, I did get some shots to prove I was out in it. The best one turned out to be the view along the snow covered boardwalk taken with the Samyang 7.5mm fisheye. Not your normal, everyday lens, but what it does, it does well.

No plans for tomorrow, we’ll have to wait and see what we get up to.

Out for a walk – 22 January 2020

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Much better looking day today, even some sunshine when we woke (whisper it).

After breakfast and a couple of chapters of my newest book (that’s about five chapters for Scamp) and then showered, dressed and out. Today’s destination was Mugdock Country Park in East Dumbartonshire.

Followed the satnav to go there and got parked without any problem and got the walking boots on. The girl who was parked next to us warned us that the paths were quite mucky and she was indeed correct. Walked down past the converted stables and on to the old ruined Craigend Castle, now protected from the punters by a security fence. Got a few shots there, pushing the camera gingerly through the gaps at the joints of the fence. It was the Nikon’s day out again today after it produced the goods yesterday. Further on in a stand of trees, big redwoods, we could hear a woodpecker, but couldn’t quite see it, then another one started up and it seemed a bit like call and response for a while. I was walking through the trees trying to locate the tree the nearest one was in when both of them stopped. Then I did see one fly away across the woods to where the other one seemed to be. No photos though. Scamp had followed me in to the woods and she was the one who noticed the daffodil and maybe snowdrops green spikes sticking up through the leaf litter. Hope I didn’t tramp on any on my way in. I was more careful on the way out.

We walked on to Mugdock Castle and that’s where today’s PoD of the Summer House came from. Just a ruin now, it must have been a fair sized fortress in it’s day back in the 17th century. From there we walked round Mugdock Loch and followed our noses back to the coffee shop at the centre. Two coffees, one roll ’n’ egg, one roll ’n’ sausage (with fried onions!) all for just over £8. A bargain and we’d earned it with our walk.

Drove back home through Bardowie. Drove right past your friend’s house there, Hazy. We couldn’t remember her name. Then we were on a well kent road all the way home. Enjoyed the walk. Enjoyed the company and enjoyed the food. Not a bad day at all. We’ve vowed to go back again soon and take a different road next time.

Dinner tonight was fish and chips with haddock from the fish shop in Kilsyth. A fitting end to the day.

Tomorrow I’ve suggested we go in to Glasgow on the bus.

Another ‘out early’ day

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Today we had planned to go to Troon. For once that’s exactly what we did.

Drove down to Troon on the west coast and actually got parked easily in the town. Went for a very cold walk along the front as far as the wind surfers’ carpark. Part of it was almost painless as we were protected from the onshore wind by the three meter high sand dunes. The walk back along the beach was not so comfortable, but gave us an excellent view of the two windsurfers and the kite surfer who seemed to revel in the windy conditions. Got a PoD of two people walking further along the beach than we did. It looks as if it’s a warm evening shot, but it was a bitter midday one in reality. Back in the car we drove down to Scotts for lunch.

We hadn’t booked and I was beginning to wish we had when we saw the number of people going in to the restaurant with views across the marina. I needn’t have worried, we got seated without a problem. Service was a bit slow, but then it was really busy. Food was excellent, as it always is here. Scamp chose Spinach and Potato soup followed by Smoked Haddock and Salmon Gratin. Mine was Spiced Cauliflower Beignet (a bit like mild cauliflower pakora) followed by Slow Cooked Beef Daub with Mash and Cabbage. Both meals were absolutely delicious, although my Spiced Cauliflower Beignet was that star in my eyes. Coffee to start with Tea and Coffee to finish. It was too cold a day for cold drinks.

Stopped at Morrisons on the way home for some essentials like bread and milk. Also filled up the Juke’s tank and drove home through the occasional rain shower. It may have been cold on the beach at Troon, but at least it was dry.

Back home I found a letter telling me it was time for me to update my driving license as I am fast approaching the age when I have to confirm that I am a fit and able driver, but thankfully I don’t have to resit the driving test. That might have been a problem.

Oh, yes and we booked our summer holiday. A good end to a sunny, but not exactly warm day.

Tomorrow we may go to the east, now that we’ve visited the west.

Earwigging – 9 January 2020

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As soon as the sky cleared today we were off on our travels.

Today Scamp suggested we should go to The Smiddy for lunch and a chance for me to take some foties. I thought it was a good idea, but added a stop at Muirhead for some carnivore food. It was actually in the opposite direction, but would only take us half an hour at the worst. Stocked up on sausages, mince, burgers and chicken and then we were off along the M80 and M9 then the A84 to Blair Drummond and the destination for today. Two toasties, one each. Cup of coffee (me) and peppermint tea (Scamp) and an opportunity to earwig the conversation between two ‘auld guys’ talking about somebody digging the founds or ’foonds’ (foundations) for a house by hand. I say we were earwigging, but it was difficult to avoid one side of the conversation which was broadcast at full blast. It was when the auld guy started elaborating that he’d seen this man “… in the pishin’ rain wi’ an auld coat oan, digging’ away …”, that’s when I smiled. I could just picture this man digging the foundations of his house with rain dripping off his auld coat and running down his neck too no doubt. I felt like thanking them when they got up to leave. Just two auld guys.

We left soon after and I got four sausages made with haggis, streaky bacon, pork and whisky. They’re in the freezer now. I’m keeping them for the weekend because they sound interesting. Back in the car we headed towards Doune, but never reached it. I took a road we’d never been on before, the B8032 that took us by a twist, turny, up and down way to Callander. The land of the blue rinse brigade on a Sunday outing, but today was Thursday so we were safe.

Parked near the river, very near the river which was coming up to meet us. Scamp had noticed the sand bags stashed at the side of the entrance and it looked like they’d be needed soon. The riverside carpark is quite often flooded but today it wasn’t too bad by Callander standards. We went for a walk through the town which looked as if it was shut, but there were a few shops open. Lots and lots of charity shops, which is a mark of small towns in Scotland these days. Bought a few cakes to have when we got home. It was a bit cool today and I think we were both quite pleased to be back in the car. A pleasant enough drive home except the bright low sun was a pain and I had to resort to sunglasses. Sunglasses in January? Who ever heard of such a thing.

PoD is a picture of the gulls sailing down the river in the carpark at Callander with Ben Led in the background.

Tomorrow looks like the last of the dry(ish) days for a while, so if it’s fine and clear we’ll probably go out for a while.

Hooray the sun is working today – 8 January 2020

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A lovely change from yesterday. The sun was shining.

OK, it only lasted for about an hour, but even as the first raindrops fell, the sky was lightening again in the west. Another day when it would be wise to go out and have a walk in the sun. Scamp’s first suggestion of Muiravonside was the one that we chose. It’s years and years since we’ve been there and according to the satnav it’s only about 13 miles away.

Drove through rain and sun, but the Juke didn’t seem to be in a good mood today and also the mileage was only reading about 36mpg. Maybe JIC was right about the tyre pressure being the problem. I might check it tomorrow. It was sunny when we arrived, but the wind was quite strong over in the east and it was a cold wind too. Walked around one of the easy walks and then through the farm. Just a kids farm really with lots of birds and smaller animals to see, as well as some big fat pigs, a couple of highland cattle and also a couple of horses. After that we walked down to the river and that’s where I got today’s PoD which is the River Avon which begins its life strangely enough near Fannyside where I was on Monday. It was the Nikon that took the photo.  I was carrying both Nikon and Oly cameras, but I was surprised at how little I remembered about setting up the Nikon.  I couldn’t even remember the shortcut to format the disk.  Must be getting too used to the little Oly and Pana cameras that make everything so easy. On the way to the river we passed a load of apple trees growing beside the path, each one with its own little name plate on a wooden post beside it. Scamp was quite pleased to see a James Grieve. It was a bit younger and straighter than ours. Hope it fruits as well as ours. It was a steep path down to the river, but we didn’t really notice until we had to climb back up again. We were a bit out of breath after the climb.

Drove back and I thought I might have a chance of a photo or two in St Mo’s after a late lunch, but the clouds rolled in in earnest and the rain started again, so I left it for another day and went to collect my pills instead.

An email has just come in as I’m writing this to say that I’ve been fully reimbursed for the purchase of ON1 2020.  That was much quicker than I expected.  In the morning, I’ll check if the money is in the bank.

I think we’re both agreed we’ll go back to Muiravonside again, all being well. Tomorrow looks clear and cold again with just the chance of some showers, so with a bit of luck and good timing we may manage another walk in the sunshine.